What's New
| Presdent Obama Donated $250,000 of Nobel Prize Money to Fisher House |
March 11, 2010, Washington, DC (New York Times) - President Obama made good on his promise to give his $1.4 million Nobel Prize money to charity, releasing the names on Thursday of the organizations that will benefit. |
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| Dr. Haley at UTSW Presents Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness |
VCS Asks VA: Since UTSW Research Remains Vital to Understanding Gulf War Illness, Then Why Did a Handful of VA Staff in Washington Impede UTSW Contract and Then End Funding for UTSW? March 9, 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah (Science News) - Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome. |
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| March 9 VCS Weekly Update |
This week’s VCS update keeps you in the loop with news on issues you care about. One good change – our weekly news updates won’t ask you for money. Instead, our news updates point you to news articles at our web site. We hope you will read them and share the important facts with your friends. This week's update includes news about VA and suicides, VCS on CNN, our VCS FOIA campaign, VA automating Agent Orange claims, a waterboarding torture video, and Gulf War veterans' benefits. |
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| Federal Court Keeps Torture Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld Alive |
What's Waterboarding? Watch Video of Torture March 5, 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Associated Press) - A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm. [Rumsfeld served at the Pentagon under former President George W. Bush.] |
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| Reducing Suicides: VA Adopts Policy on Emergency Care for Mental Health Patients |
This Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive provides policy to ensure the provision of safe and secure mental health services during all hours of operation for Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) in VHA |
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North Miami Man to Sue Veterans Administration Over HIV Infection
Written by Fred Tasker
Thursday, 20 August 2009 10:20
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August 20, 2009 - A 55-year-old North Miami man who claims he was infected with HIV during a colonoscopy at the Miami Veterans Administration hospital has filed notice he will sue the federal government.
Juan Rivera charges that he was infected by improperly cleaned equipment in a colonoscopy around May 19, 2008, at the Miami VA facility. Rivera, who has a wife and five children, is a 13-year Army vet who now drives trucks for the U.S. Postal Service. He is represented by Miami attorney Ira Leesfield, who says the six-month notice is a requirement of suing the federal government under the Federal Torts Claim Act. The notice was filed July 20. Leesfield said the claim states Rivera will sue for $20 million in damages. The government has six months to settle before the case would go to U.S. federal court for trial before a judge, Leesfield says. On March 28, the VA sent letters to more than 3,000 veterans who had colonoscopies at the Miami VA hospital informing them that improperly cleaned equipment might have exposed them to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. It later raised the number involved to 3,348. VA officials have said a staffer rinsed some equipment instead of sterilizing it as required by the manufacturer's directions. Similar problems arose at VA hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn. and Augusta, Ga. The total number of veterans involved is over 11,000. Records show that among the patients at the three hospitals who have heeded VA warnings to get follow-up blood checks, eight have tested positive for HIV. Twelve former patients have tested positive for hepatitis B and 37 have tested positive for hepatitis C. Officials point out there is no way to know if they were infected at a VA facility. But the VA has promised to care for all those infected. After Congressional inquiries, Miami VA hospital director Mary Berrocal said she disciplined up to 10 employees. This report was supplementedwith material from The Associated Press.
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